Hopeless
by The-Terror
Summary: A fresh, humanstuck Eridan x Feferi fic set in Newark, New Jersey. Can Eridan repair the bond between he and Feferi that had been broken so long ago? Battling himself, and his old friends, could things ever turn for the better?
1. Chapter 1 Hopelss

**CHAPTER ONE**

The melancholy tones of the hallways rang with the inaudible sound of children's laugher and the deft tones of young children's footsteps. The walls, usually filled with the products of students' creativity during the school year, were now blank and white; the year's creativity lost to the summer's clean up schedule. It was as if the people who attended the school during the summer weren't 'real' students, just made up apparitions that were forced to attend due to low scores on tests and assignments that really meant nothing if you were actually expecting to advance in that field.

All that aside, summer school sucked, and after five years of being stuck inside the monotonous schedule alongside certain, less intelligent individuals with a bit stronger intentions, the intricately dressed individual had finally stepped outside of the cycle, free to do whatever he pleased with his summer. That was, after he picked up his younger sister from her advanced summer learning programs every day, and that wasn't any easy feat. Walking down the hall of the Elementary schools was torture, the memories of bullies and certain… instances, came flooding back to him. Specifically ones involving a certain childhood friend he hadn't spoken to in years.

The painful walk down the hall led to the opening of the fourth grade classroom, and the awkward silence of the young children as their attention turned from the teacher to the gawky teenage boy holding his keys on a purple lanyard in his left hand. The tiny little blonde girl in the front row was waving furiously at the teen, but he paid no attention. Memories flashed as he envisioned the room full of laughing students, a young boy in the front with a face full of red, the papers in his hand shaking. The young girl sitting in the class, her blonde hair down to the middle of her back, and her face a similar shade of red, was shaking her hand furiously for him to sit down. After a few moments standing, flabbergasted at the front of the room, the teen shook his head clean and stole his way to the back of the room where he found a seat.

The teacher looked at him fondly, with her old, knowledgeable, and wise eyes and her lips curled into a soft smile. She'd been in class that day too; he'd never forget those eyes, or the kind words spoken to him that afternoon when class was finished. "We'll be done soon, Eridan. There's only about an hour left of class, but I'm sure you know that."

Eridan nodded in recognition, but didn't return the soft glance that she'd given him; his face was turned to the side, eyeing the desks in the rows beside him, the innocent carvings of love, hope, and desire left by past love-struck fourth graders. Silly children, love was a myth, even though Eridan may have never given of hope of seeking it. Trying to pass the time was always an issue the gawky teen had, and even though he knew he was early, he never wanted to turn back. In fact, early was how he liked it. One hour. Exactly.

His eyes followed the minute hand around the clock as he waited, and his long, thin fingers found home tracing the graffiti on the desk. A special heart in the corner caught his attention when his finger found it, and he glanced down for a moment.

Who would have remembered it, so long ago, so many memories that gave precedence to this one. The pathetic, love-struck, short and squatty ten year old, was somewhat of a purposeful blur to the now tall and gangly, hopeless, sixteen year old boy. Still, tracing the carving with his finger sent chills up his spine, whether they were chills of happiness or of terror, he couldn't have been sure, but and his finger drifted back to his other hand, his eyes drifted back to the methodical tick of the clock in the front of the room.

How long had it been since he counted down time on a clock in a classroom, years maybe? Months, even? The worst characters had been in his classes, and even the upper-middle class kids who [s]looked up to Eridan[/s] admired Eridan's personal belongings and familial wealth couldn't help but snicker when he tripped up the stairs or was rejected by the ugliest girl in school. How low he'd stooped, the people he questioned, the friends he'd made. The poor boy was out of options, and it wasn't as if suicide had never been contemplated as a solution before…

It wasn't, though. Eridan had decided against that, he had too much to live for, too much pride. In his head, he told himself how great he was, and how he would succeed so much greater than the other level-headed idiots in his grade and school. This boy had a passion, a pure obsession, you could say, for art and nature. Photography was beautiful and it captured a side of life people who didn't seek out the beauty weren't ever able to visualize. It was sophisticated, and admirable, even when you were one of three students in the photography club, and you led it up, camera collection and all.

"That's the end of the lesson, make sure to complete lessons one through five tonight on simple radicals. And remember everyone, only two more weeks until school begins again!"

Half the younger kids cheered, and the other half jeered. The thought of seeing your school playmates again mingled with the nightmare of endless hours of homework that came with the step up to middle school.

"Ready to go, Eri?"

Eridan looked over to his side where his kid sister stood, pink backpack and all, with her small pink poinsettia pin clipped into her natural bleach blonde hair. Her cheeks were highlighted in baby pink, and her smile was that of an angel. On her teeth were clear braces, with clear bands, just a small mark of their societal standing, but on her wrist she wore a true amethyst bracelet, a present bought especially for her by one of Eridan's friends when she was born. It was worth more than her entire designer outfit, dental work, and all.

"Y-yeah…" He replied, finally, tearing his eyes from where they now stared at the desk, and pushed himself up with a shove. "How about we go get some pizza and ice cream Elli? How does that sound?"

Elli shrugged and batted her eyelashes, as she latched onto his hand.

The two walked out of the school together, hand in hand, behind the other kids who'd just been released as well. The advanced summer class was small, maybe a dozen students in total, and only open for accelerated minds, that is 'gifted kids'. The chattered together in hushed voices, and Eridan had befriended a few somewhat begrudgingly. Some of his best friends were years younger than him, and could actually hold a somewhat decent conversation…

The second trip down the halls wasn't as bad as the first, as the students took away the memories of that empty void that was a school. His sisters hand gave him the warmth and comfort of a good friend, a best friend… Eridan bit his lip for a moment as he tugged at his scarf, unwrapping it from his neck so that it now just hung around him. He turned and smiled to his sister as he pushed open the front door of the school with one hand, and unlocked his purple Mustang convertible with the other.

"Don't worry, Eri! Today will be a fabulous day!" Elli said in a high pitched voice, a smile spread all the way across her lips, as she jumped into the passenger side of the car and buckled up. Eridan grinned back half-heartedly as he made his way into the car as well.

"I certainly so hope so, El…"


	2. Chapter 2 Lost

**CHAPTER TWO**

Terezi made them, Vriska worded them, Feferi handed them out.

And that's how the invitations to the summer's greatest bash made it out into the air, and onto Eridan's porch steps. That, and due to the simple coincidence that it was on Eridan's street that Vriska's bike had hit a rock and made a nasty swerve and crash into his mailbox which caused the plethora of invitations to spill out onto the road and be caught in the wind (mind you, Vriska did actually manage to gather up all within the immediate vicinity of the crash).

[b]Beep Beep[/b]

Eridan shoved his key lanyard into his deep pockets, along with his hands as he stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of his house and watched as his sister leaped out of car behind him, still licking the four scoop ice cream that would surely have fallen had it not been stuffed inside a plastic cup. With her cute shimmering pink converse, she skipped up the sidewalk to the front door and pushed it open with her elbow. Inside, her high-pitched voice of an average young girl could be heard echoing throughout the house, announcing their return home to their ever-elusive parents who, though probably home, were too occupied to greet their children good afternoon.

The teen took a more casual approach to entering the prison of his home, and looked up to the bright blue sky above him, empty of any blemishes and clouds. A half-hearted sigh escaped his lips as he smiled. He pulled a hand out of his pocket to compulsively place a fingernail in his mouth, casually gnawing on the tip with his teeth. He wore a tan and tan striped sweater-jacket over a work shirt and dawned khaki skinny jeans on his lower half, topped off with baby blue Vans and a baby blue scarf.

He found his feet traveling down the cold concrete sidewalk with no direction, and his eyes simply admiring the scenery around him, imagining the chance to capture it all with one single click. Across from his house sat another, similarly large red and brown brick house with a white door that had seemed so ominous for the few years' time he'd stopped visiting it with such a passion that he once had. But, alas, that was where the Peixes' lived, their financial family had built strong relations within the small city on the outskirts of Newark for years, practically as prolific as a family who'd sailed over on the Mayflower and taken the first step on their land's soil.

As he pushed his thick framed glasses up his long, less than eloquent nose, a voice appeared from behind him in a sort of hushed tone. It was familiar to Eridan's ears, but he didn't notice it right away until he took a bit more

"Hey." It said, as if the owner of it had the worst sore throat in history, his voice cracked, and immediately Eridan recognized the puny owner as he turned around, he responded.

"Taw?" His voice, filled with questionable confusion, rang through the air a bit louder than he'd expected, and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "What are you doin outside? Ain't your parents worried sick about you?"

The boy in the wheelchair fidgeted around for a second, before tilting his head to the side, his overgrown Mohawk flipping over to the other side of his head, "I'm completely efficient on my own… um… Eridan." As he looked down at his paralyzed feet, after something finally clicked, he looked up at Eridan again, but not into his eyes, "Uh, right. I thought you dropped something, back in front of your house." The smaller boy's thin fingers held out the enveloped paper frailly, and as his eyes met Eridan's they quickly jumped to the side. Eridan reached out to grasp the paper, thinking it was some scrap paper that'd fallen out of his car, and looked at the front.

[align=center]You're Invited![/align]

The specific use of exclamation points made him a bit weary of the sender, the two, Eridan and the spider-obsessed bitch, had been great friends before, in a hateful sort of relationship. Their arguments and dirty, nasty back-and-forth remarks were what had held up their 'enemy-ship'. Of course, once everything else started to fall to shit, whatever had been going on between the two at any point in time had become pure, hateful, hostility. The insults and horrid remarks were gone, and replaced by serious threats and hollow returns, by either party at any point.

In short, it made the teen increasingly anxious the more he held it in his hand, so he decided on stuffing it into his pants' pocket, along with all the other junk wrappers and gum that was already shoved into them. "Yeah, thanks Taw." He said, waving him off, and turning around on one heel, continuing his walk as he had been.

After a while, he heard the budoomp budoomp of Tav's wheelchair rolling on the sidewalk the opposite way Eridan happened to be walking. The bulky paper in his pocket genuinely bothered him, but the idea of actually opening it seemed perverse. That and he wanted to save it for when he was home in his room, an option that, the more he walked, seemed more and more welcoming. Finally deciding for it, he rounded the corner and turned back for his house, going in the back way.

His house was so quiet, so silent. The steady flip of a pen could be heard behind the office doors, where his father worked, but other than that, it was dead air. It was, of course, absolutely immaculate as well. Everything had its place, and was in its place, and even the smallest speck of dust would have been afraid to enter into the depths of the echoing household.

Eridan's room, however, was the shining opposite. Papers lined the floor, and posters lined his wall. His favorite books, Harry Potter, Witches and Wizards of history, and Salam Witch trials being some of the few, lined his bookshelves which were immaculately stuffed with every type of history text book, fictional book based on magic, and magical history book known to man. If someone was unable to tell his favorite things from the full shelves, they certainly weren't fit to be living. On his desk, papers were scattered, lost papers from fictional stories, and sub-par doodles dirtied his workspace and covered his laptop so well hidden in the mountains of paper. On the right side of his extensively large room, was an unmade twin bed with purple and black stripped covers and a purple pillow.

He pulled out his desk chair and plopped down in it with vigor. He tilted himself to one side as he reached into his pocket for the anxiously awaiting letter. As he held it between cold fingers, he shivered. It made him uncomfortable, looking at Vriska's hand writing again for the first time in a very long time. Eridan slid two finders under the sealed tab of the envelope and ripped it open like a child's told to rip off a bandage. Without hesitancy, his hand dove inside the paper packaging and acquired the letter, printed on pink parchment and so sloppily designed by the most colorblind girl in the school.

Sloppily drawn palm trees lined the bottom of the letter, something so obviously beach/sea-theamed. It read as follows:

You are Invited!

Come enjoy the sun, beach, and surf, and the only great summer party, the party of the century hosted by none other than Feferi Peixes! Spend time with the coolest friends as you tan and chat with your friends about the most juicy summer details.

RSVP with Feferi Peixes either in person or through phone, and leave your other friends at home. Guests will be checked for invites upon arrival.

So it was an invitation. To a party. Feferi's party. Eridan's hands wrung the paper with either perverse pleasure or an intense hatred, but either way, it was rather obvious to himself, and to most others, that he wouldn't allow the opportunity to be passed up again.


	3. Chapter 3 Possibilities

((AN: More so just to keep people like me in line, here is a breakdown of story relationships as of this chapter.

_**Eridan – Feferi – Friends (destroyed), **_

_**Eridan - Feferi – Love, **_

_**Eridan - Feferi – General dislike/disinterest**_

_Eridan – Sollux – General dislike/hatred_

_Sollux – Feferi – __**Couple**_

Terezi – Feferi – Friends

Vriska – Feferi – Friends

Terezi – Vriska – Semi-enemies/friends

_Vriska – Eridan – Burning dislike_))

**CHAPTER THREE**

The party was set for that weekend, the Saturday to be exact, and Eridan was more anxious than ever. His invite made its home under his pillow as if it were an autographed copy of his favorite book or one of his many pieces of jewelry he kept in a special case in his bathroom. Every morning, he took it out, and read it over again as if it was going to stop being true at any point in time. But it never stopped being true. As Saturday inched along, Eridan kept his eyes peering out his bedroom window every once in a while, at the house across the street. It was always going to be true.

His insanely loud alarm clock blasted 'What You Are' at exactly eleven o'clock, and his eyes jolted open with a start. He couldn't sleep that night anyway; he'd ended up waking up at least five times since midnight when he forced himself to go to sleep. It was Saturday, and there was a party, one of the most important things to the antsy teen, and he would be prepared for it.

Hopping out of bed with springy enjoyment, he smiled to himself, which he realized that he hadn't done in quite a long time. Quickly, he pulled his glasses off his night table and slipped them on as he journeyed downstairs for breakfast.

His mom and dad were already situated at the breakfast table together, enjoying a cup of coffee and both reading the paper. The two never seemed to socialize with each other, but perhaps it was for the better, everyone in the town knew they were unhappy together, even Eridan was aware the two were constantly cheating on each other. He questioned why they stayed together, but the fact that his sister was completely unaware of anything wrong happening between them always raised back to the forefront of his mind.

They didn't say anything when he entered, or when he shattered a plate on the floor for good measure, and just kept their interest in their daily news. As he made his breakfast, Eridan attempted to make a decent amount of notice, pouring the cereal in his bowl, senseless banging of the milk on the refrigerator door, he tried it all, yet his parents still turned a blind eye. Elli, on the other hand, gave a strange look in Eridan's direction when she entered the room, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She was still dressed in her pink My Little Pony pajamas, but her bands were already in and her hair was up in a ponytail, which told Eridan that she'd been waiting for him to wake up to have breakfast.

"Coco Puffs or Rice Krispies?" He asked, holding the two boxes up, when she pointed past him, at the box behind him of which he'd just finished pouring for himself.

"Capt'n Crunch!" She said with a smile, and pulled herself up on one of the island stools.

"Are you sure, I thought you hated them?"

"Yeah, I want that this morning."

Eridan sighed, and shrugged. Girl knew what she wanted, and she very well was going to get it. Putting the other two boxes of cereal back in the cabinet, he pulled out another small plastic purple bowl and filled it to the brim with Capt'n Crunch and milk before pushing it across the counter at her, and placing his own in front of him. He leaned over the counter as he ate in the silence of the kitchen, and eventually spoke up to relieve the tension.

"Are you plannin on stayin home today, do I need to take you out somewhere?" He asked, spooning another mouthful of cereal to his lips, "Because I need to be somewhere by seven."

"Carrie invited me over for the night, but I can walk if you need me to." She answered, with her mouth full of food and milk, some dripping every which way as she talked.

"Don't speak with your mouth full." Eridan reminded her, "But I can take you ower when I go to Fef's… Fuck."

"Eri!" Elli leaned over the island, pushing her feet up on their tiptoes and balancing the stool on the floor, "That was a bad word! And, when did you start seeing Feffie again!" Her little circular face was lit up with a familiar happiness it hadn't seen in a while, her cheeks lifted in joy, Elli had enjoyed Feferi's company ever so much before the incident.

"W-we hawen't really talked lately but she's hawing a party tonight."

"Oh, that's fantabulous!" She squealed, jumping down off the stool and making a beeline around the island to grab Eridan in a hug, "Everything will be perfect, again."

A smile tugged at Eridan's lips as he looked down to Elli latched onto his legs, "Yeah, Ewerythin'll be 'ite again."

"Well what are you waiting for? Don't you need to get ready?"

"Elli, the party's not until seven."

"It doesn't matter!" The small third grader took up the disposition of a two year old as she pulled on Eridan's sleeve, trying to get him to come with her, and finally the teen submitted. Shoving one last bite of cereal into his mouth, and taking a swig of orange juice out of the carton (earning a slap from his sister), he allowed himself to be drug up the stairs and into the bathroom. It was as if he was a slave to her desires.

By six o'clock, Eridan was primped and pampered, thanks to the help of his sister. His hair, which had, earlier that day, been mussed up beyond recognition, was now slicked back and tidy, a firm streak of purple noticeably glinting in the front. He was now wearing a long, button up tan cardigan over a white polo with khaki skinny jeans to match. On his feet he dawned his favorite purple Vans that 'didn't exactly match the owerall look of the outfit but it was wery well gunna'. His stood in front of the mirror, his sister at his side, looking in unassuredly, picking things from the daily food schedule out of his teeth with a 'square' toothpick.

Furrowing his eye brows, he took one last glance, straightened the thick frames of his glasses, and sighed. He was better than this, he thought, in an arrogant and cocky manner, before he turned away and pushed his sister to the side as he exited the all-too-big bathroom.

"Well, are you goin a go ower to Carrie's? You better get a packin."

Elli nodded post-haste and ran off down the hall to her room as Eridan slunk the opposite way to his room to grab a few, select items. He slung his double breasted wool coat over should shoulders and shoved the invite into the pocket along with a roll of BreathSavers. He grabbed his slip phone and put that into his back pocket along with his wallet. The last thing he gathered were the keys to his purple Mustang, his dream car he'd wanted since he was little, and flipped them around his finger a few times before stepping out the door of his room, and heading down the stairs to the front door.

"Elli, we need to leawe!" He called, and the staggering of feet, and a crash followed shortly after, as his little sister clattered her way down the stairs.

"Okay, we can go now!"

Eridan started up the car and Elli jumped in beside him after she tossed her things into the back seat. The only thing Eridan could think about during the drive was the confrontation he would have with Feferi at the party, and what would happen. After all, he wasn't even sure if the invitation has been meant specifically for him, or if it had just happened to be lying around and Tavros, being the kind soul that he always was, just handed it to him thinking he dropped it. He wasn't looking forward to the nasty confrontation between him and Vriska, after the nasty incident where Eridan… Well… He never really talked about it, anyways. Eridan was _always_ being usurped, by anyone at any specific time, and rejection was something he never became fond of. He became the 'desperate hipster' at school once he realized he had no one to share his time with, and Karkat became his only friend most days. The real connection between the two was never certain, but most were certain the friendship relied on the trust that neither would share the romantic advice they Karkat tended to give each other Eridan.

When they pulled up in front of Carrie's house, a girl, about as tall as Elli, opened the door and looked out. She had on a pair of cat ears and cat mittens and she swaggered a cat tail playfully. Pulling the former off her head, along with the mittens off her hands, she came out to greet them with a smile. "Purrrrrfect evening, isn't it Eridan?" She asked, nicely, enunciating the r with a roll of her tongue, "I heard Carrie invited little Elli over for the night."

"Evening, Nepeta!" Elli said as she hopped out of the car, and ran up to the door to greet Nepeta's younger sister, who was also clad in cat-wear, so kindly leaving Eridan and Nepeta to battle it out on sidewalk and car.

"Yeah, it's a nice ewening, Nep." His eyes didn't meet hers, too embarrassed to look her directly in the eyes. Just the week before he'd asked her out to the movies and he had been so horribly rejected in the middle of the hall. Made even more embarrassing by the fact that she was one of the 'slower' kids in the school, Eridan hated ever dropping Elli off at her house.

Nepeta swiped at Eridan's head with a paw hand, and Eridan ducked, grimacing at the thought of playing her little games. Back when they were kids, Nepeta had always begged to play in their LARPing sessions with them, but she was always held back by her parents, and her best friend. "You're such a big kitten, thinking you're better than me Eridan." She protested, crossing her arms, "You're not as purrfect as you think you are. Where are you going anyways."

Eridan cracked his neck in annoyance, and let his fingers loose on a steering wheel for a second, before going back to choking the poor inanimate object, "A party."

"Oooooh!"

"With cool people. It's for the…" He cleared his throat, now choking him up, "for the most prominent of the community."

Nepeta responded with silence, and then a quite growl, "Furget it Eridan. Have fun at your purrtay." With that, the tiny teenager turned around and ran into the house, that last thing to be heard before she slammed the door being her growls and hisses at her sister, Eridan figuring it ended with a pounce and their continuance of what they considered LARPing.

"Purrrrrfect." Eridan mocked as he revved the engine, and took off down the street, "She really doesn't know w-what she's missin does she."

(AN: This marks 10 pages in a Word Document, something I am 'HOLY SHIT' so proud of. It may only be 10 pages and 5k words, but for me, that's a great achievement and a mark that this time this will go somewhere. Thanks for the great comments so far! You guys keep me on my updating toes! )


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